Gold traders are getting more bullish after billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson told investors it’s time to buy the metal as protection against inflation caused by government spending.

“By the time inflation becomes evident, gold will probably have moved, which implies that now is the time to build a position in gold,” New-York based Paulson said in a letter to investors obtained by Bloomberg. Armel Leslie, a spokesman for Paulson, declined to comment.

The 56-year-old manager’s SPDR Gold Trust holdings fell 15 percent in the fourth quarter as his $23 billion hedge fund company had its worst-ever year. His Advantage Plus Fund lost 51 percent in 2011, and the firm said in a third-quarter letter that financial services companies were the “primary drag.” Paulson became a billionaire in 2007 by betting against the U.S. subprime mortgage market. Gold rose 10 percent last year in New York trading, an 11th consecutive annual gain.

And so the Paulson overhang is back. Couldn't Paulson just go ahead and buy Bank of America or some other worthless biohazard again?All that remains is for Roubini to say he prefers gold over spam (and always has, he was merely "misunderstood[5]") and the crash will be imminent.

Or perhaps we will learn following the next $1000 up move in gold that Gartman will have been long gold in Vietnamese Dong.